Syndie shows mostly on the rebound

Following a down holiday week, most syndie shows were well on the road to recovery in the Nielsen national barter rankings for the seven-day period ended July 18 — either stabilizing or increasing their ratings performances.

But two top-10 shows took big week-to-week hits, with King World’s “Oprah Winfrey Show” sliding 14% from a weighty 9.3 to 8.0 and Par’s “TNG” descending 9 % from a galactic 8.9 to 8.1.

On the other hand, “Star Trek: The Next Generation’s” companion, “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine,” jumped 7% from 7.1 to 7.6. And KW’s weekly “Wheel of Fortune” weekend version rolled up a 16% gain from 6.4 to 7.3.

‘Kung Fu’ kicked up

Everybody was in a kung fu fighting mood at Warner Bros., where its firstrun entry “Kung Fu: The Legend Continues” kicked up a 16% gain from 4.9 to 5.7.

Other big gainers and losers during the week: Columbia’s off-net sitcom “Designing Women,” chalked up a 7% gain from 5.5 to 5.9; Multimedia’s “Donahue,” down 9% from 5.7 to 5.2; and Par’s “Maury Povich,” up 7% from 4.1 to 4.4.

A large number of shows were basically flat during the week, with July traditionally among the lowest-rated months because many shows are in their rerun modes.

But some, like “Oprah,” rely on a mixture of repeats and new material, such as the “Conversation With Oprah” episodes that are one-on-one interviews taped without studio audiences.